How Do I Request My Amazon Inventory Back?

If you’re not seeing sales come through to your Amazon store in the volume you’d like, you may consider having your inventory sent back to you so you can try to profit off it elsewhere. 

This is possible, and it’s not too complicated. Here’s our guide on how to remove inventory!

Decide Which Kind of Removal You Need

Amazon has a few different options for inventory removal. 

• Basic removal order
• Bulk removal order
• Automatic removals

A basic removal order will help you remove a portion of your inventory or a small amount of product. A bulk removal order is what you will need if you have a large amount of product that needs to be removed from the warehouse. Automatic removals are helpful if you have seasonal products that aren’t able to ship during certain months, and want to be sure you’re not paying for warehouse space in the meantime. 

You can send your removal orders to yourself, a third-party storage location, a re-shipper, or the manufacturer. You cannot use removal orders to send items to customers or to send gifts. Amazon will notify you if there are items you have to remove, and will give you updates regarding products that will incur long-term storage fees. 

If you’d prefer not to get your inventory back, you can ask Amazon to recycle or dispose of your FBA inventory at the warehouse. Removal orders can only be shipped in the U.S., and cannot be accepted at PO boxes or other Amazon fulfillment centers.

Creating a Basic Removal Order

There are a few places you can go to create a removal order.

• The Manage Inventory Page
• The Remove Unfillable Inventory Page
• The Fix Stranded Inventory Page. Note: This page shows you inventory that is being stored by Amazon but doesn’t have an open listing attached to it.
• The Recommended Removal Report. Note: This page will only include inventory that may be subject to long-term storage fees.

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Step 1: Start the Removal Order

If you’re doing this via “Manage Inventory,” choose which items you’ll be removing and click “Create Removal Order” from the drop-down list available to you.

Even though you’re on a different page, you’ll be finding the same button (“Create removal order”) for both the “Fix Stranded Inventory” and “Remove Unfillable Inventory” pages.

If you are using the “Recommended Removal Report,” however, you simply will click “Begin Removal Process” button. If you don’t see that as an option, Amazon hasn’t recommended that any of your products need removal.

Generally speaking, you should do one removal order per page of items or input separate removal order.

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Step 2: Choose Your Method

Once you’ve begun your removal order, you must select the “method of removal.” Your options are:

• Dispose.

Select this option if you’d like your product disposed of at the warehouse (you will not get reimbursed for this).

• Liquidations.

Select this option if you would like to essentially sell your product back to Amazon and recoup some of your costs.

• Ship-to Address.

This is what you’ll select if you’d like your product sent back to you, a (non-Amazon) warehouse, a recycling center, or a third party shipping service. Simply enter the address where you want your product to arrive safely.

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Step 3: Enter in Product Details

At this stage, you’re going to fill out the rest of your removal order with all the details specific to your product, including:

• Your order ID. This can be any number of your choosing, or you can leave this area blank and a random number will be generated for you. Save this number for tracking.
• Your inventory details. Here you’ll enter the title, MSKU, ASIN, or FNSKU to find the products you would like to remove. Add these to your order.
• The number of fulfillable items you are removing. If you are removing items that you are technically still able to sell, this is where you put that number. Enter the quantity you’d like to remove here.
• The number of unfulfillable items you are removing. If you’re removing items that are no longer active or able to be fulfilled, enter that number here.

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Step 4: Review Details

Now you need to double and triple-check everything about your removal order to make sure you’re removing the proper items and don't forget your removal order ID.

Make sure you have the right quantity of fulfillable and unfulfillable items listed and that all your product details are correct. You can easily add or delete other items as well.

Once you’ve verified all this, hit “Review” and ensure that your order ID, method of removal, shipping address, and all details are accurate. 

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Step 5: Confirm and Wait

Once you’re positive that all your order details are correct, click “confirm” to complete the order. You can also click “Cancel order” if you don’t want to go through with the removal process.

You should receive a pop-up verification message alerting you that your order has been placed. It can take up to a month from this time for your product to leave the fulfillment center - and then you (or your designated delivery location) will receive a notice so you can plan delivery options. You should receive any items that aren’t already sold (ie: if you request the removal of 100 out of your 200 inventory items, but you sell 150 before they ship out your removal request, you will only receive 50 items).

You can cancel an order within the first few hours of placing it, but once it moves beyond the Planning or Pending Status, you can’t cancel. If your removal was required, you also can’t cancel. You can do this by entering your order ID into the Advanced Search bar on your Manage Orders page.

Be sure that all details about your shipping address are correct, and if it is going to a third party, ensure that that third party is prepared to receive your shipment and the contact info you’ve listed is accurate. If your products are not received, Amazon may dispose of them and you could face consequences on your account moving forward.

If you receive damaged or incorrect inventory, immediately photograph and document everything you received. You can be reimbursed for damaged items, but only if you actually receive them and document it. The same goes for receiving incorrect items. Document it all, and contact Amazon.

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Other Forms of Removal

In most cases, you will be creating a removal order manually. However, Amazon does have options for Bulk Inventory Removal and Automatic Inventory Removal. These can be helpful if you are dealing with consistently unsellable inventory or have a massive quantity that needs to be removed, but generally, a basic order will do it. 

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Conclusion

Removing Amazon inventory from your fulfillment center is easy. Amazon only profits off your products being in their space if they are selling, so they have no reason to make this a difficult process for you. To fix a problem with an existing removal order, enter the removal order ID or batch ID. Sign in to use the tool and get personalized help (desktop browser required). Be sure to stay on top of removing inventory as necessary, so you don’t get overcharged for long-term storage or have consequences on your page for non-moving inventory!

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